Wrapt in His purple of descending gore,He yields Him to the smiters more and more!Dread Flagellation! shall its tortures tellIn vain - how we should have the doom of hell,

Had not for us the Word Incarnate trod,The doleful winepress of the Wrath of God!Hail, thou rejected Lamb! In all thy woe;Let the hot tears of deep contrition flow:Till sin, and self, and sense, be all abhorr'd,Lost in the wounds of out once suffering Lord!

Thursday, 29 August 2013

CAUSE OF TERESA HIGGINSON

A New Movement in London

The
Catholic teachers of the Metropolitan district are now organising on a
par with their compeers in the North and Midlands, to seek the
Beatification of Teresa Higginson as " Patron of School-teachers."

A
general committee with several branch sub-committees has been formed,
and associates are being enrolled in all parts of Greater London. The
Training Colleges, St. Mary's and St. Charles's, and the Mount Pleasant Association of London, are joining in the work, which is actively promoted by the several congregations directing them.

Among
the officials are the recently elected President of the National
Federation of Catholic Teachers; and the Vice-President of the Sirnmarian
(St. Mary's) Association. At the first meeting of the General
Committee, Mr. W. J. Ridge (hon. sec. of the M.C.T.A.), was elected as
its president.

A Forthcoming Meeting

A meeting in
Westminster Cathedral Hall (with the blessing and support of the
Archbishop), is being prepared. The Vice Postulator, Mgr. O'Brien, of
Bootle. Liverpool, will attend and give an account of the progress of
the cause; and Lady Cecil Kerr of Edinburgh, Teresa's biographer and
advocate, has promised to give an address. Representatives from the
other local committees above-mentioned are expected to be present.

The
movement in the Metropolis has been no doubt quickened by an address
from Mgr. Thomas Adamson, secretary of the Archbishop of Liverpool. To
the teachers of the archdiocese, he congratulated them on taking
up the work so sincerely and enthusiastically, but adding:

"There will
be difficulties. It is not an easy matter to get the Church
formally to declare a person a saint. Witnesses have to be interviewed,
documents and writings have to be collected and examined, the votes of
theologians, bishops, and cardinals taken, before the Holy Father makes
his final decision. Consequently, you must not expect to ace your
efforts crowned with success within a few months. Moreover, in addition
to the delay unavoidable in the formal process, you must not expect to
be entirely free from irritations and vexations at home.

You
will have criticism, plenty of it, as every good cause has. Much of it
you will be able to ignore. On the other hand a kindly offer to explain
the difficulties to your critics may often convert them to your cause.
Personally I believe that the majority of the critics of Teresa
Higginson are those who know least about her. Though we do not wish for a
moment to anticipate the decision of the Church and assert definitely
that she is truly a saint, nevertheless the fact that the authorities of
the archdiocese have officially supported the Cause and have already
forwarded it to Rome for examination is sufficient to justify our
credibility."

United Efforts

There can be little doubt that
these united efforts of the North and the South will encourage the
advocates of this Cause in hoping to bring it to a successful issue at a
not too distant date. It is also encouraging that interest in Teresa
Higginson and her alleged revelations, is spreading rapidly all over the
world. In the United States two of the Cardinal Archbishops, those of
Boston and Philadelphia, like our own Archbishops are stimulating the
eagerness of the Faithful to see Teresa beatified.

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

Soul of a sinner - turn with me once moreUpon a scene excelling all before!And as the mighty Moses, when he sawThe Burning Bush with overwhelming awe,

Put off his shoes before the fire of God,That he might worship on the sacred sod;So thou from sin, and self, and sense set free,Ascend the Holy Hill of Calvary!

Behold the Cross, in wreaths of sable furl'd,The atoning Altar of a guilty world!Look on thy Jesus in His final hour,Till the look thrills thee with transforming power:Hear His last words - the prayer - the bitter cryThat rends the Veil - and rocks the earth and sky:Lo! how He Bows - when He resigns His breath,That Head - which holds the crown of life and death.

Recently a retreatwas held at Pantasaph in North Wales from 28th - 30th June 2013.

REPORT OF TERESA HIGGINSON RETREAT AT PANTASAPH 28th - 30th JUNE 2013

A group of twenty-one people interested in the promotion of the Devotion to the Sacred Head of Jesus, Seat of Divine Wisdom, as revealed to the nineteenth century Servant of God, Teresa Higginson, met at Pantasaph Monastery from June 28-30, under the chairmanship of Fr Keith Windsor OFM. Some of the group shared their particular interests in the background to the devotion. Several spoke of their long standing inherited family interest. It was explored that throughout Church history, the role of chosen souls given extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit at times when the culture required heavenly intervention:witness St Margaret Mary Alocoque and the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The group prayed theprayers and litanies to the Sacred Head of Jesus during this dedicated retreat.

This was an inaugural meeting which realised that as the Sacred Head Devotion is not yet accepted into the Cultus of the Church it must therefore remain Private Devotion. The group felt that the acceptance of the Devotion would enhance Teresa Higginson’s Cause and the two together will be a means of evangelisation to save souls.

Teresa Higginson (1844-1905) was privileged to receive many visions, favours and private revelations from Our Lord. As early as Good Friday 1874, Jesus requested His Sacred Head be universally worshipped as the Seat of Divine Wisdom as a completion of the Devotion to His Sacred Heart and given as an antidote to the intellectual pride and increasing dominance of the scientific rationalism of her times. This makes itespecially timely today when the secularist agenda never ceases in its efforts to overshadow, drown out and intimidate the Christian witness to the moral truth of the Natural Law of God.

Teresa was born and baptised in Holywell, North Wales, third child of eight, into a middle class pious family. Her precocious holiness was recognised by Blessed Dominic Barberi and Fr Ignatius Spencer, both frequent visitors to the family whose home was the local Mass centre in Gainsborough, Lincs. After Teresa spent ten years in a Convent in Nottingham, the family experienced financial hardship and moved to the North West, eventually settling in Neston on the Wirral, where Teresa was buried in the family grave at St Winefride’sChurch. Teresa stepped in to teach at St Alexandra’s Bootle during an outbreak of cholera and subsequently qualified as a teacher. In all her teaching positions, Teresa was a shining example of how to be holy whilst living as a lay person in the world. She was commanded under obedience by her spiritual director Fr Edward Powell of St Alexandra’s Bootle to give a detailed written account of her hidden life. This continued under her next director Canon Alfred Snow for the last twenty two years of her life. Canon Snow believed that she would eventually be proved to be one of the greatest Saints of the Church.

There is much literature detailing the many extraordinary charismatic gifts given by God to Teresa Higginson: prophecy, bilocation, the stigmata, healings, ecstasies, mystical Communions, living almost completely on the Eucharist. She was frequently physically attacked by Satan hence the title of the most recent biography- The Devil in Bootle by Richard Whittington Egan. The definitive biography by Lady Cecil Kerr entitled Teresa Helena Higginson originally published in 1927 has recently been reprinted with an introduction by Rev Dr Paul Haffner, a Theology Professor in Rome. So much information about Teresa Higginson and the Devotion to the Sacred Head of Jesus is available on the Internet, an excellent website being www.sacredhead.org which provides links to the official information channel and www.teresahigginson.blogspot.co.uk and Facebook etc. Cecil Kerr’s book may be read online through links on these sites.

Teresa’s Cause was presented to Rome in 1937 and declared Non-Expedire in 1938 but is still listed at the

Vatican in the Causes of Saints and may be opened at a future date. The devotees pray that if it is God’s Will, the Church will soon absorb the Devotion to the Sacred Head of Jesus, Seat of Divine Wisdom and God Willing, Teresa’s time will have come.

My Lord and my God, humbly prostrate before Thee, I adore Thy Sacred Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom, the Shrine of the Powers of Thy most Holy Soul and Intellectual Faculties, and the centre of the five Senses of Thine adorable Body.

When I gaze into the depths of this fathomless abyss of Goodness, Power and Wisdom, which has contrived and instituted such unheard of ways and means of proving Thine infinite Love, and lavishing Thy choicest gifts upon me, Thy poor child, I am lost in astonishment and admiration.

O Light of lights, in whose glorious rays I see fresh mines of Wealth in the Sacred Heart; O Sun of Justice, in whose intense heat I feel the burning Love that consumes the Sacred Heart.

O Will, which was always in meek subjection to Thy Heavenly Father's, control me in all things, as Thou didst govern all the affections and motions of the Sacred Heart of the God made Man.

O Memory, in which past, present, and future are at once reflected, which is ever mindful of me, and always seems to be studying some new means of giving fresh favours, force me to love Thee more and more.

Oh! By the shining light of Thine Eyes, teach me to see Thee in all things; and by Thine Ears, which are ever open to the prayers of the needy, grant that I may ever hear the voice of Thy Church, and listen to Thy holy inspirations. Oh, give me always a love and a relish for what is right and just. Let me taste how sweet Thou art. Let me drawn by the odour of Thy Virtues, and feel forever the intense joy of seeing, loving, praising, blessing and glorifying Thee for all eternity.

O Flood of Light! Mine of Wealth! Ocean of Goodness! Sea of Mercy! Fountain of Living Waters! Fire of Love! Source of all Good! To Thee I consecrate myself with that I am or have.

O Sacred Head, Seat of Divine Wisdom, Tabernacle of God with man; in Thee I behold at once a celestial and terrestrial Paradise, a new Heaven, and a new Earth; the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared and adorned as a bride glowing with light and glory, in whose sparkling crystals I behold all the attributes of the Godhead reflected as a sea of glass.

O Rainbow of peace! O Burning Bush! O Peerless Pearl! Storehouse of the Treasures of God! O Lamp, ever burning! Brightness unfading! Sun for ever shining! O Tree of Life! Life and Light of those who are Thine! O Seal of the Elect.

O Wisdom without beginning or end! Boundless knowledge! Love so great that we cannot understand it! To Thee I raise my prayer of love, reparation and thanksgiving from the centre of the Sacred Heart, where I safely hide; and I beg of Thee to accept, O my Jesus, all the treasures of this infinite mystery of love and riches, in atonement for my coldness, misery, and poverty.

O Jesus, my beloved Jesus. I love Thee far more than I can tell; Jesus, my Spouse, and my treasure, I grieve that Thou art so little known and so much offended. Jesus, my Life and my Light, may all minds know Thee, all hearts love Thee, and all tongues praise Thee, now and for ever more. Amen.

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

REMEMBER, O most sorrowful Soul of my Jesus, the fearful agony that Thou didst endure, when plunged into the depths of Thy Father's Justice and Wrath, Thou didst cry out, "My Father, if it be possible, let this bitter Chalice pass from me, nevertheless not My Will but Thine be done;" and when overwhelmed in deepest woe, Thou didst complain that "Thy Soul was sorrowful, even unto death;" and when agonising, dying and deserted by all, even by Thine eternal Father, these words of wondrous mystery were wrung from Thee, "My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Remember the sighs, the groans, the anguish of soul, the agony of mind, and the braking of Thy Loving Heart. Remember the many stripes, the blows, the insults, the blasphemies, the thorns, the Blood, the Tears, the stripping of Thy garments, the shame, the prayers, the separation of Thy Holy Soul from Thine adorable Body.

Remember the Wisdom of Thy Sacred Head that had contrived so much suffering, and would thus prove the Love of Thy Sacred Heart, for the souls of Thy children. Remember, too, what Mary suffered.

Remember the price I have cost Thee, and when Thou beholdest all these fearful tortures, have mercy and pity on my soul, and forgive me through Thy Precious Blood.

Why O my crucified, loving Jesus, are so many souls in darkness and sin? Art thou not the Almighty God? The God of Wisdom, of Knowledge, of Light? Art Thou not our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sanctification, our holy and strong God? Why then is our enemy and Thine so bold?

O Lord, for the love Thou hast for souls, for the price we have cost Thee, for the glory of Thy Name, arise and show that Thou art the Living God. Lighten up every darkness by the Light of Thy Divine Wisdom; expel all heresies by spreading the truth of Thy doctrines, and the beauty of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith throughout all nations. Consume all hearts with the burning fire of Thy Love. Draw all souls to Thy Soul, that we console and comfort Thee here, by weeping over sin, which is the cause of Thy intense sorrow. Hide us, dear Jesus in Thy wounds; bathe our souls in Thy most Precious Blood. Stamp Thy Sacred head and Face deeply in our hearts and souls that we may never forget Thee, nor the sorrow we have caused Thee.

Remember us, Lord, in Thy Kingdom, Grant us pardon and peace here and eternal happiness in the world to come. Let us keep near Thee, Jesus, in Thy sorrow, that we may be found worthy to dwell for ever with Thee, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, One God in three distinct Persons, in the world without end. Amen.

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

REMEMBER, O most Holy Soul of my Jesus, all Thou hast done and suffered for my soul, and let it not perish. I beseech Thee, through the anguish that forced Thy very Heart's Blood from Thy Sacred Veins, and I conjure Thee to bathe mine, and all poor sinners, in that precious Stream, which ran down in ruby drops upon the ground. Remember the deep and boundless love Thou hast shown to it, and drive not away from Thee this soul which comes back to Thee, fainting under the weight of its miseries and sorrows. O deign to feel for its weakness; behold the dangers which encompass it on all sides, the evils which cause it to sigh and groan.

Full of trust and love, it comes to Thee, O most tender and compassionate of all souls; receive it in Thy Mercy and Goodness; cause it to feel the effects of Thy most plentiful Redemption, and the excess of Thy burning Love. Show Thyself its advocate with Thy Heavenly Father, in the name of all Thy merits, Thy humiliations, and sufferings, and grant it strength in all its struggles, and grace to love and console Thee in time, that it may possess, praise, and thank Thee for all eternity. Amen.

Soul of Jesus, sorrowful unto death, would that I could console Thee in Thy bitter anguish and grief.

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

My Soul is not known. My Soul is not loved. Night and day I see lamps burning before My Altar. My Sacrament of love finds worshippers and victims; but My Soul does not meet with sympathising souls.

Every day I give Myself to My creatures, and, swallowed up in this union, they praise everything in Me, but My Soul and My Sacred Head crowned with thorns, the Seat of Divine Wisdom.

Each day My Cross is bathed with tears, and the daughters of Zion cannot be comforted, because they see Me without brightness and beauty, but few there are who compassionate the anguish of My Soul, sorrowful unto death.

My Heart has found thousands of hearts, but My Soul remains solitary, and My Thorn-crowned Brow unhonoured, My Face besmeared, and My Eyes and Mouth filled with congealing Blood, and no one is there to wipe It away and refresh My parched Lips and swollen Tongue.

"My Soul is sorrowful even unto death, and I have looked for some one to comfort Me and there is none."

Tuesday, 19 February 2013

O DIVINE Jesus, lonely to-night in so many Tabernacles, without visitor or worshipper, I offer Thee my lonely heart, and may its beatings be a prayer of love to Thee. Thou art ever watching under Sacramental veils; in Thy Love Thou never sleepest, and art never weary in Thy vigil for sinners. O loving Jesus, O lovely Jesus, may my heart be a lamp, the light of which shall burn for Thee alone. Watch, Sacramental Sentinel, watch for the weary world, for the erring soul and for Thy poor lonely child. Amen.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus that I could water with my tears those places where the marks of Thy Love have been received only with contempt and indifference. In reparation for such injuries, I offer Thee the love of all just souls, the ardour of the angels, and above all, the tender sentiments of thine Immaculate Mother. Permit me to unite with that offering the affections of my heart. Amen.

Monday, 18 February 2013

O Lord Jesus Christ, infinite Goodness, Who by the Divine Sacrament of thy body and Blood dost regenerate, strengthen, and nourish Thy Church, and daily offerest Thyself a sacrifice of praise and propitiations to Thine Eternal Father, look propitiously upon our beloved country, which is excluded from the Sweets of Thy Banquet. All that is in this land has been done and said through impiety or ignorance against these most Holy Mysteries, mercifully pardon - inspire the minds of all men with faith and reverence for this beloved Sacrament, so that all in this land may become Thy children, like olive plants round Thy Table, through the same Jesus Christ out Lord. Amen.

Monday, 11 February 2013

Today on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes our Holy Father
Benedict XVI has announced his resignation due to reasons of declining health and
increasing incapacity to carry out the duties of supreme pontiff, coming into
effect on Thursday 28th February at 7.00pm GMT. Through the intercession of the servant of
God Teresa Higginson let us ask that the wisdom of the Sacred Head may grant a
worthy successor to ascend to the Chair of Peter.

Father of all, we fain would say, as did Thy only Son,
In every hour of every day, Oh let Thy Will be done.

In thought, in word, in deed, in death, things finished or begun,
Let every transitory breath whisper: Thy Will be done.

In daily cares to thousands known, or known perchance to none,
Let this request be heard above: Oh! Lord, Thy Will be done.

In sickness though some stroke unseen may oft the senses stun,
Let grace suggestive intervene to feel Thy Will be done.

In health, when in its full career the race of man is run,
Let joy be taught by holy fear to pray: Thy Will be done.

Amid the rocks and shoals of life which few can ever shun,
Let peace compose each spark of strife and cry: Thy Will be done.

And when the bow of hope shall blend all colours into one,
Time with eternity shall end with: LORD, THY WILL BE DONE.

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

...The two flames of which I have spoken to you, although they burn and consume as it were the whole being and cause a most exquisite pain, yet they seem to regenerate and renew in a wonderful manner, I mean that the agony they cause is more than mortal, yet they produce a new life and cause a deep peace and sweet calm in which truths are seen and clearly understood, and things are measured and weighed according to their worth. The light produced by these flames in the soul annihilates; it instructs the understanding and compels the heart to love God and souls so intensely that we do not know what to do with ourselves...

So long as these flames consume the soul there is no fear of anything but the deepest humility and absolute annihilation. It is a true light in which we see God's infinite attributes and almighty power and our own weakness, wretchedness and misery, yet we see as we have never seen before the gifts which our dear Lord has given to us, the jewels with which our divine Spouse has enriched us that we may glorify Him in His works and bless and glorify Him for being mindful of His poor helpless little worms..

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Teresa foresaw much of what was to happen in the twentieth century, in particular the widespread famines (as happened in the collectivisation of the Ukraine in the 1930's) and the widespread moral failing, defection and dissent of the priesthood in the years following the Second Vatican Council. Yet she foresaw a period and peace and consolation for the church. This was what she wrote in 1880 to Fr. Powell:

“On another occasion I saw the stars shining brightly in the firmament and I
saw a smoke arise, then I saw numbers of them fall and our b. Lord made me
understand that through levity, want of mortification, and intellectual pride,
many of His priests will presently fall away.

At other times I have seen dried
up herbage, dead cattle and fainting forms of human beings which I think
indicates famine but I have not been distinctly told so. I do not know either
the exact time these things will come to pass, but I understand that they are
now hanging over our heads. The sign which marks the foreheads of the saved is
the Wisdom the seat of which He expresses shall be duly and publicly
worshipped.”

Ukrainian famine of 1932 - 1933

“When these things shall have passed, there will be very few left who
have not His seal upon their foreheads, yet these will be brought to love and
adore the Wisdom of the Father in person of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit
dwelling in the hearts and minds of His people, the Church will enjoy a great
peace and calm, and God will be adored, loved known and served verily and
indeed.”

Monday, 19 November 2012

In 1880 Teresa wrote this letter to Fr. Powell, in which Our Lord revealed to her the terrible judgements of war that would happen in the future. This was published in Lady Cecil Kerr's biography of 1927, when the atomic bomb had not even been imagined:

“If it were not
in obedience, I should never attempt to describe the dreadful things
which have been shown to me, but, trusting in that wisdom and power, I
hope He will give you a right understanding and knowledge of all that
you wish me in His Name to relate. Oh Jesus, my beloved Jesus, be Thou a
Jesus to us and save us whom Thou hast redeemed by Thy most precious
Blood. I know not how or where I was taken, but it seemed to me that I
was in a high place and looked down upon the earth. First I saw a cloud
of darkness encompass the earth, a real thick material darkness which I
understood too was a figure of the darkness of the intellect into which
man had precipitated himself, then I heard the sound of mighty thunder
and saw the lightning flash, and it seemed to me as if balls of fire
fell upon the earth and struck it to its centre splintering the rocks to
fragments. And I heard the rush of waters and a fearful wail of
mourning arose from the earth, and humbly prostrating myself I craved
for mercy through the Blood and bitter Passion of Jesus Christ, for
through this darkness could be seen distinctly shining stars on the
bosom of the earth (the holy tabernacles of His love), and I begged God
not to look upon us but on the face of His Christ. And I heard a mighty
voice say, ‘I will not save this people for they are flesh. Ask me not
in His Blood for His Blood is upon them.’ (I understood to condemn
them). But still I continued uniting my poor prayer with that of our
dear crucified Jesus, saying over and over again, ‘Father forgive them
for they know not what they do. Jesus, Mercy! Mary, help!’

“I
cannot say how long this lasted, for I was as much afraid as I was
humbled, but then I heard a voice I knew full well to be that of our
dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ saying: ‘Say that not one of these
that are given to me shall be lost.’ Then the earthquakes stopped and
the lightnings ceased and I beheld starved and maniac looking forms rise
trembling to their feet, and I saw the sign upon their foreheads, and
with them and the whole court of heaven I praised and blessed that God
of infinite wisdom who in His mercy has redeemed us in His Blood.

Monday, 29 October 2012

First I must tell you that the fire of which I wrote seems to me to be purely spiritual, and I feel that without it I could not have withstood that which it pleased Our Blessed Lord to give to me, or in other words that the human soul must be purified in this flame before it can gaze so far into the infinities of God, and it would seem to me that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor is it given to the mind of man to conceive this part of the dreadful bitter passion, for the soul finds itself launched out into the infinities of God and carried away in the torrent of His wrath, or pressed down beneath the weight of His judgements, and as the Precious Blood, the stream of life, trickles from the Sacred Heart, it sets the poor trembling soul on fire with desire and love, zeal and impatience, raising it from the earth earthly and pressing on it nearer and nearer, deeper and deeper down into those unfathomable depths of the infinite attributes of God.

This knowledge is of greater value to the soul than any which God has given to me, and yet I see clearly that I do not know in any way how to express the depths into which I have been plunged by God. All that it has pleased Him for me to endure in His name (other years) is but a little stream from a scalding torrent He has now deluged my whole being in and saturated me through and through. The dreadful tortures and awful sufferings which I have been able to write of other years were within the scope of human feeling or human intelligence to conceive, but the most terrible part of the Passion of Jesus was in the soul and in the intellectual faculties. He had to atone to the all holy and infinitely pure Spirit of God (by His submission) for the sins of the great intelligences which rebelled against God and for whom hell was created. He had to make full satisfaction for the sins of rational beings made to the image of the Triune God....

I think really without that fire (I don't know exactly but I think it is from God's awful purity) I could not possible have gone through half of that which it pleased our dear divine Lord to give to me, for in the first place I could not have seen things as they really are. The understanding is wonderfully illuminated and the eye of the soul purified in this fire, and the flame of divine love seems to shoot up higher. In it I saw man's ingratitude in a deeper dye and God's love for His own glory and for souls in a new and more glorious light than I had ever seen before...

Friday, 26 October 2012

“In the name
of the Adorable and undivided Trinity, and to the glory of Jesus my
divine Spouse and only Treasure, in honour of Mary my Immaculate Queen
and Mother, and in obedience, I will try and write something of those
things which He has vouchsafed to me the very least of His little ones. I
have written an account of the unspeakable favour which Jesus Christ
the Son of God and the ever blessed Virgin Mary has granted to me, and
when I read it over it seemed in no way to convey what He really has
accomplished, for the change that has come over my soul is so astounding
that I cannot express it or convey by any comparison what has really
been done. I feel and realise those wondrous words of our dear Lord, ‘My
peace I give you’ etc. and it brings such a sweet bright light in the
soul that they only can understand who experience it, and our dear Lord
has taught me the hidden things of God with such excessive delights that
all the senses enjoy such an immense degree of sweetness that nothing
here could in any way describe. And if you wish me to tell you what I
have seen or what He has taught me, I can only say He has taught me
great truths hidden in His immensity. He has laid open His secret and I
have drunk to excess, and yet, as there is no image of any sort
represented to the understanding, the soul learns and enjoys without
knowing what she learns and enjoys. These things may seem to you to be
folly on my part, but perhaps it is on account of my nothingness and
misery that I am not able to give you a better idea of what passes now
or how my soul is contained or held in God and how He acts with her. But
even if it is so, oh how I thank Him for knowing nothing and having
nothing but Himself, oh how rich I am in His possession! And though the
soul may be astounded at first at His condescension, yet afterwards when
she considers His immense love, she lies as it were in peace without in
any way considering herself. Yet she knows and understands how He is
all hers and she is all His, but she has no thought but of Him. I mean
she forgets her own misery and sins and does not wish to do this or that
but only His adorable Will, and this she hungers and thirsts for as He
makes her understand like Him she ‘must be about her Father’s business’
and testify to the world the love and goodness of Jesus, her divine
Spouse. Oh that I had the tongue of men and angels that I might proclaim
to the whole world what He is and His wonderful love, that I could tell
or give them to taste how sweet is the Lord and what they lose who run
after the empty bubbles of the world. Oh all we could do or suffer for
ages would be nothing to purchase so great a good. Oh that I could tell
what I experience in Him who is all good, all powerful, all Wisdom. My
soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour
because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid.

Mystical marriage of St. Catherine

“Oh my
Father, you must pardon me. I do really wish and desire to make all
clear to you, and I beg of Him, whom I know will not refuse my request,
to teach you by experience and show you my soul as He sees it, that so
you may know how to guide and take me with you to His eternal
possession.

“Ah what a foretaste I have already of that eternal
bliss, for the soul seems to have become one with God in such a close
bond of union that all fear of losing Him seems out of the question, for
it seems that the soul as a little drop of vapour is drawn up into the
immeasurable ocean of God’s infinity. Here she feels to possess all and
she cares not whether she lives or dies.

“I don't know but what
those great impetuosities may return, but at present I feel as though I
had not to run after God as it were, but that I possessed Him and was
more closely united to Him than my soul is to my body, that He is the
soul of my existence and that I feel and live in Him, that He does all
and that I do nothing.

“He has taught me oh so clearly too, all
that He has done for me and how miserable a wretch I should have been
without Him, and when He shows me the beauty with which He has clothed
me and the wonderful works He has accomplished in me, I am forced as it
were to sink in the abyss of my own nothingness and praise Him for His
mighty acts. And instead of trying to run away as it were at telling
you, I feel as though I were robbing Him of that which is His if I did
not try to tell you as I know things myself, for all is His and I am and
have nothing, and it would seem to be a false humility that I have
hitherto had – wishing to hide His favours, as though I considered they
were in some way mine, or that I had anything to do with them.

“I
seem to have become as a powerful eagle that can soar to and gaze on the
midday sun, and as those who look at the sun can see nothing but it for
some time, so now I see nothing but Him in all things and all things in
Him. That great fear of death and desire of it are gone and I feel such
a real disengagement from all created objects, and I feel to have
gained such a great dominion over myself that I don’t think anyone can
understand but those to whom our dear Lord my Spouse and only Love has
given it, for I know too so well that I never could have acquired it no
matter how I worked or exerted myself. It is all His work and I feel
myself so freed out of this prison of death that I lie basking in peace
in the light of His Truth. He has dug deep in the trench that so He
might fill me with Himself. He has filled up the valleys on a level with
the hills, and the mountains He has lowered that I may view their tops
and look down on all things beneath. Oh my Father, I could never tell
you all that in His goodness and mercy He has done for me, and it seems
to take away from it rather than anything else when I try to express
them in such cyphers as is the language of men, when trying to describe
the truths and favours of Almighty God.

“Begging of you again and
again to bless the Lord for all He has done for me, and offering His
adorable Precious Blood in thanksgiving, I unite my voice with His, with
Mary’s and the whole court of Heaven in praising and blessing our God
who sitteth upon the throne, and the Lamb who redeemed us by His blood
and made us to reign with Him for ever and ever. Amen.

“TERESA HIGGINSON “Enfant de Marie”

CLITHEROE, FEAST OF ST. WINIFRED, 1887.

“Oh my Father it seems presumption almost on my part to attempt to
describe the wonderful things our dear b. Lord has done for my poor
soul, and yet I know I must endeavour that you may thoroughly understand
His workings in me. Though it seems as if I could not comprehend at
once all that His infinite goodness accomplishes, oh how clearly He has
taught me in very truth the true estimate of all things here and to
judge rightly of His gifts and graces. Here the soul becomes as it were a
very queen of liberty, she has bound up all for Jesus and He sets His
little captive free, she has sunk in the abyss of her own nothingness
and He raises her to a most intimate union with Himself and the adorable
Trinity. She has stripped herself of all things for His sake and He
clothes her in His glory. She has tasted of the bitterness of life for
His sake and He fills her with unutterable sweetness; and now she who
was so afraid and weak is made strong and desires to fly to the heights
and gaze on and bury herself in the centre of that sun at which
sometimes she felt unable to look, for the light was too strong for her
weakness. Now she desires to plunge deeper and deeper into that eternal
Essence, to gaze into that sparkling crystal and there drink the waters
of life and eat the food of the strong. Here she is taught that she is
nothing and has nothing, that all is her divine Spouse’s, and she feels
as though she could go to the tops of the mountains and proclaim His
greatness, His wisdom, His love, and His goodness aloud to the whole
world, that all might acknowledge that He is the Lord and praise and
magnify His Holy Name.

“I feel as though I had no heart or soul
but that God Himself is my soul and there He shines and rules all in
such wonderful wisdom and peace. Oh my soul, bless the Lord and let all
that is in thee praise His Holy Name. It would seem to me as though our
dear Lord my divine Spouse and Mary my dear queen and my mother were
keeping high court within my poor soul and allowing me to understand the
glory that so many angels and saints are enjoying in His presence, for
they are present with and seem to accompany me. Oh my Father, if it were
only to witness the beauty of the stones in this circle of our union,
to behold the gems that represent His sacred Wounds, I think it is more
than human nature could endure, and it seems to fill my poor body even
with a spiritual life and brightness that it seems buoyed up so to
speak; but I do not now care what becomes of it, whether it is raised up
before others or not. His glory and Holy Will are all I desire. I feel
as though I could sing the Magnificat aloud with my more than Mother
Mary.

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

The wonderful ceremony of her Mystical Marriage took place during the
night of the 23rd of October, 1887, between the feast of the Holy
Redeemer and that of St. Raphael. She wrote at once to Father Snow and a
few days later sent a somewhat fuller account in reply to a request
from Father Powell. Her eyes had beheld that which it is not given to
man to utter and she speaks as one still dazed from the glory of that
vision. Her very writing, wavering and almost illegible, betrays that
she was trembling on the verge of ecstasy as she wrote. The following is
what she wrote to Father Powell:

Mystical marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria

AMDG et in hon BVM et St J

“In the Name of the most august and blessed Trinity and in holy
obedience I write of the unspeakable favours which Jesus Christ true God
and true Man, my divine Spouse and only Treasure through the excess of
His infinite Love has bestowed on me, the very least of His little ones.
Oh my Father, how can I find words to express this wonderful mystery,
this excess of His mercy and love which is more astounding to me than
the great mystery of the Incarnation. Oh my Love, my Love, my beautiful
One, My Jesus, my Own, my All, my God, my (the writing becomes
illegible).

“Oh my Father it seems to me almost impossible to
continue, or rather I should say I am unable to begin and describe what I
would. This is the third paper I have spoiled; I am carried away at the
recollection of His wonderful condescension. I have twice before
written the four pages and when I read them over I found it full of
little prayers, and now again I find myself like one only half awake,
for my whole being seems lost in His infinite immensity, His wonderful
Attributes, the unspeakable dignity to which He has raised this little
nothing. And so prostrating myself before the thrice holy Trinity and
before Jesus, my own Jesus, my spouse and my Treasure, I beg of Him to
guide my hand and my understanding that I may write without these little
wanderings and make clear to you all that you would wish to know, to
the praise and glory of His Holy Name. Oh my soul bless the Lord and
magnify, for He has regarded the nothingness of His handmaid and has had
compassion on my weakness and misery. He has drawn up this little drop
of water from the earth into the ocean of His infinity, into the Essence
of the Unity and Trinity of the Almighty God of Wisdom and Love, the
all-pure and uncreated One, and made me one with Himself in the most
holy and solemn bond of marriage. He has really and truly united Himself
to me in the presence of the whole court of heaven, presenting me as
His beloved Spouse to the Eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, and His
Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, the Cherubim and Seraphim, etc. etc. and
making me feel and understand how this sacred alliance was as real and
as true as the union of His divine and human Nature in the one Person of
Himself, Jesus Christ the Coeternal Son and the Son of Mary since the
moment of the Incarnation. And in His Name and with His help, I will tell the way as far as I can that all has been accomplished.

“Remember
oh my Love and my Lord that I am all Thine and Thou art the God of
Truth, the Word that is God, and that now I am one with Thee as the body
and soul of man are one person, so my words must be a reflection of
Thine, must be, as Thou hast said to me they shall be, Wisdom and Truth,
as the honey that drips from the hive, pure and sweet, and all men may
confess that these things are the works of Thy Wisdom and Love.

“Since the feast of our holy Father St. Francis,
when my divine Spouse gave me the general absolution (as I complained
to Him that I had not been able to receive it from the hands of a priest
and we had no Franciscans here), He caressed my soul as it were and
told me that He would give me the absolution, not to take away sins from
which He had preserved me, but to saturate me with His most Precious
Blood and make me more like Himself. And He let me feel that my soul
(through His presence and the holy Sacraments) gave great glory to the
adorable Trinity and was a reflection of Themselves in the powers in
which He had and they had taken up their abode and which was glistening
and saturated with His adorable precious Blood. He told me frequently
that, as I had given myself wholly to Him to be His entirely, so He
would be all mine, and that He would glorify me in the sight of the
angels and saints, because I had emptied myself and become as naught to
myself and had gladly clothed myself with the sins of others for the
price they had cost Him and for the love of His image and likeness. And
because I desired Him with a longing nigh unto death, He would unite
Himself to me in the closest union possible and clothe me with the
brightness of His glory, and because I had rejoiced and united myself to
Him when I was reviled by men and had clothed myself in the fool’s
garment (as it were), as He was during His bitter Passion, so He was
about to clothe me with the wedding garment of Purity, Charity and
Truth.

He also shot those fiery darts of love from His Sacred Heart into
the very centre of my poor soul so frequently that I felt as though my
breast was a liquid fire: a boiling seemed to be going on in and through
my entire being, and the pain it caused was so excessive that I
continually cried aloud to Him for pity and told Him again and again
that He knew how I loved and desired Him and begged of Him to burn away
all that was not Himself and so unite me and make me all His own, though
never for one moment dreaming of the unutterable favour which His love
has accomplished. In this fire which burns very clearly for there is no
smoke or wet fuel – in this consuming flame all is brightness, and the
light thereof is very pure so that the soul sees very clearly what God
is and what He has done for her and that she has nothing of her own, all
being the gift of her great and wise Creator and Redeemer, and she
knows and understands how the Holy Spirit has sanctified her, and seeing
what she is and what God is, she is as it were annihilated in His
sacred presence. Oh how He has taught me what I am and what I owe Him
and His excessive love!

St. Raphael with Tobias

“Well, on Sunday the 23rd, the feast of
our Holy Redeemer, I thought of the holy Sacrifice being offered for me,
I tried to make the same act of oblation to God of myself as my divine
Spouse made to His Eternal Father during His most bitter Passion, and I
felt that He graciously accepted the offering I made. Then in the
evening I begged of the angel Raphael to guide me to my divine Spouse as
he did of old the young Tobias, and I sent the angel of the Incarnation
to present my soul to Him with all its affections, my body with all its
senses to be all His forever, and I begged him to present me through
the hands of Mary His Queen and my Mother as a clean oblation in His
sight. Then I repeated several times: ‘Oh Wisdom of the Sacred Head,
guide me in all my ways, oh love of the Sacred Heart consume me with Thy
fire’, when I found my soul fluttering on my lips almost and my spirit
softly stealing through the gates of death and I was fainting away with
desire, and yet such a calm sweet peace was in my soul that it seemed to
check the throbbing of my poor heart that tried to break, because it
was overwhelmed with His goodness and love and yearned to be united with
Him whom it loves with all its affections.

Oh how I hunger and thirst
after Him for He alone can satisfy! And as I was thus literally dying I
think of desire of Him, He appeared holding the b. Sacrament before me
and I thought He had come as He so frequently does to feed me with His
adorable Body and refresh me with His most precious Blood, but refrained
for some time (it seemed an age to me) and stood gazing into the very
centre of my poor trembling soul, which would have left this poor prison
of the flesh if it could to fly to and rest in Him, her only Good.

Then
He gave me Himself in Holy Communion and the Sacred Host liquified and I
seemed to drink of the Precious Blood till I was saturated through and
through. And it changed all into Itself, and my divine Spouse spoke to
my soul and said He would now fulfil the promise He had made to me so
often and present me to the adorable Trinity, and unite Himself to me in
presence of the whole court of heaven. I felt annihilated at these
words, for I felt my nothingness and unworthiness and I think I would
really have died if He had not supported me by a new miracle of power
and love. Then He said, ‘Arise my Beloved that I may glorify the triune
God in Unity and espouse thee in Their adorable presence.’ And turning
then to His blessed Mother, He gave me to her as her daughter, and Mary
taking hold of my hand gave it to Jesus and He withdrew the ring that He
had before placed upon it and then replaced it on the same finger,
saying: ‘I espouse thee in the Name and in the presence of the uncreated
Trinity and in presence of My Immaculate Mother, and I give you to her
as a daughter and my Spouse for ever.’

Mystical marriage of St. Catherine of Siena

“I was wrapped in the
Essence of the Eternal Godhead and I heard and saw things which it is
not given to man to utter, and when I began to come to myself I beheld
the ring (which encircled the finger next the little finger of my left
hand) which was a circle of thorns as it were, set with seven beautiful
crystals more beautiful than diamonds which looked like liquid gems, the
centre representing the Holy Soul of my divine Spouse in which the
adorable Trinity is represented by the three powers, and are as it were a
reflecting glass in which They behold their Unity in Essence. Then to
the right is represented the Sacred Head as the Seat of divine Wisdom,
and on the other side the Sacred Heart is represented, and the other
four are to represent the Wounds in His sacred Hands and Feet. Oh what
brightness and beauty issues from this little ring; what glory it gives,
that I could not behold it I think and live if it were not that He who
gave it sustains me with His power. Then He allowed me to see the soul I
have often seen before but now more beautiful than ever,
and He told me, as I sang with the angels hymns of praise, that was the
soul of His beloved Spouse, that that glory was my nuptial robe and
that He with the Father and Holy Spirit were glorified in me and that I
should dwell with them and His Blessed Mother and St. Joseph for ever.
He also told me to remember that I was His, that He was Almighty God and
I like Him must be about my Father’s business. I understand I have a
great deal to do for souls and many difficulties will surround me, but I
must take courage and have great confidence in Him. Since then it seems
to me that so many saints are with me, and the angels as a guard of
honour watch in admiring wonder the mercies of the adorable Trinity to
this very least of His little ones, and I could and do continually unite
with my dear Mother Mary in singing the Magnificat and singing praises
to the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ my Divine Spouse.

“DEAR REV. FATHER,

“I
could not describe what God has taught me while held in His infinite
and divine Essence, for it seems to me that no form is represented to
the understanding, but that the soul is in God’s Immensity, and she sees
and knows mysteries which are hidden in God and which it is not given
to her to utter, and she enjoys without actually knowing what she
enjoys. The secrets of God are made known, but the understanding, being
lost in God, cannot comprehend what He has taught her.

“But when I see you I will try and tell you more.

“Begging your prayers and blessing and promising to do all I can for you and yours, I remain dear rev. Father

About this blog and contact details

This blog exist to gather facts and give some background about the servant of God Teresa Helena Higginson (1844 - 1905) and the devotion to the Sacred Head, as well as the people and places associated with both. It is an entirely personal endeavour of its author that has no connection with any official cause. While it believes that she reached a heroic level of personal sanctity, it is aware that her cause for beatification was declared by the Holy See in 1938 as 'non expedire' (not expedient), and desires in no way to reject the judgement and authority of the church on these matters.

This blog is always seeking new information about both Teresa Higginson and the Sacred Head, and would also be delighted to answer to the best of its limited ability any questions you may have about her and the Sacred Head devotion! Please contact me on salvecaput@hotmail.com